By: Andrea Klassen in Municipal Government News Kamloops This Week January 10, 2014
Unionized workers at the City of Kamloops could have a new contract by Wednesday, Jan. 15. City CAO David Trawin said members of CUPE 900 will meet on Monday, Jan. 13, to review the terms of the new deal, with a ratification vote set for Wednesday. City council has already ratified the terms.The city’s previous contract with the union expired on Dec. 31, 2013. Trawin said the new deal was tentatively reached just before Christmas. While he wouldn’t get in to specifics, Trawin said the deal won’t require major revisions to the city’s budget as deliberations begin in earnest at city hall. “I don’t think it makes much change to the budget. We knew there were negotiations,” he said. “We’re always diligent putting numbers in and there’s enough changes in the budget with things going up and down that it’ll kind of balance out, anyway.” Trawin called negotiations between the two sides respectful, noting both the city and the union moved from their initial positions to come to an agreement. “I guess I’m satisfied and I’m not satisfied, and I know the union’s satisfied and not satisfied, which probably means we’ve got a pretty reasonable settlement,” Trawin said. Kamloops is working on getting a new contract signed just as Prince George reached an agreement with its unionized empoyees. Prince George council ratified the agreement that saw union members vote 88 per cent in favour of the deal. The term of the agreement on Prince George is from Jan. 1, 2013, through to December 31, 2016, with a 0.5 per cent lump-sum payment for 2013; a 0.75 per cent wage increase for 2014; a two per cent wage increase for 2015 and a two per cent increase for 2016. If CUPE agrees to the contract in Kamloops, the city will have a short break before it returns to the bargaining table. Arbitration with the city’s firefighters is scheduled to being in mid-April. The firefighters have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2010.
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